


The Soldier and the Nurse

by xx_saltandburn_xx



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, John cuts himself-but it's not graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 07:26:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4657791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xx_saltandburn_xx/pseuds/xx_saltandburn_xx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Winchester has just returned to Lawrence after the Vietnam War. He meets a young woman who was also overseas at the time as a nurse, and after a chance encounter at a diner, the two bond. Will they end up together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Soldier and the Nurse

It was a quiet Monday morning at the end of April in 1973 when John Winchester found himself strolling into Henry’s Diner on Main Street in Lawrence, Kansas. The young man frequented the place often since coming home from his tour of duty in the Marines at the beginning of the year. He held the door open for two women with their children and smiled warmly at them when they expressed their gratitude. John was a simple man, he knew as much; but he yearned for a woman to love and to create a family of his own. He believed Lawrence to be a wonderful place to raise a family. Having lived in Lawrence since he was about six years old, he moved with his mother after his father had abandoned them when he was four years old. Trying not to dwell on the sour memories of his dad, he went over to his usual barstool at the end of the bar and waved at Ellen, his favorite waitress. She had a maternal aura about her, one that reminded John of his own mother. 

‘Hey John!’ Ellen called out to him. ‘The usual?’

‘Yes, please.’ He politely responded. John shrugged off his jacket and laid it on the counter as he sat down. Ellen came over with a pot of coffee in hand and poured him a fresh cup.

‘You know, John, as much as I love seeing your handsome face walk through those doors, would it kill you to bring a girl in with you every now and then?’

With his body betraying him, he flushed a few shades of pink. ‘Oh Ellen, you know you’re the only girl for me.’ He jested.

The cook dinged the bell a couple times, signaling that food was up.

‘They’re playing my song, kiddo. I’ll be back in a jiff.’ She winked.

Ellen made her way over to the kitchen, when another chime went off, indicating a new arrival at the door. You had just walked in to the small diner and looked around, unsure of your next move. Ellen turned around and smiled warmly at you, shouting out, ‘sit wherever you’d like, sweetheart! I’ll be with you in just a minute!’ You surveyed the room quickly and decided that the bar would be your best bet. Making your way over, you reminded yourself to check out the man with his back to you.

It was, after all, a good looking back.

Settling down on top of the stool furthest to the right, you looked over to the far end of the bar and saw the brunette waitress balanced one too many plates with one too few appendages. You watched as she gracefully delivered food to the entire row of patrons, without missing a beat or link of sausage. She dropped off the last plate to the man sitting a couple stools away from you, the one whose back you were appreciating a few moments ago.

‘Here you are, John.’

You made a mental note to remember the name John.

‘Thanks Ellen, it looks great.’ His low voice sent a shiver down your spine, calling out to your soul.

Ellen paused briefly, glancing in your direction, and then back at John. A sudden glimmer flashed in her eyes, but before you could try to decipher its meaning, it had already disappeared. She took another couple steps and was standing right in front of you.

‘Hello, darlin’. I’m Ellen, welcome to Henry’s. What’ll it be?’

You analyzed the woman immediately, a force of habit these days as it would turn out. You had only recently come back stateside from your stint as a nurse in the Vietnam War, where you had been stationed in South Vietnam. Because of your duties and the crisis and threat of war surrounding you, you had come across a large number of injuries and situations that ran up and down the gamut. As a nurse, you had been trained to assess the situation at hand as quickly as possible, gauging any threat within striking distance and to act accordingly. Although you had been home for a couple of months, and knowing right off the bat that no one here in the diner posed a threat to you, your body and mind still operated in combat mode. One day you hoped to lessen this characteristic, but apparently today was not that day.

‘Hi, I’ll just have a black coffee and a couple eggs, sunny side up please. Oh! Perhaps a slice of toast as well, if that’s not too much to ask?’ You offered.

‘Of course not! Anything else?’ Ellen asked.

‘No thank you, ma’am.’ You returned her friendly smile from earlier with one of your own. ‘I’ll be just fine with that.’

Seemingly pulling a pot of coffee out of thin air, she poured you a cup, filling it to the brim with the steaming liquid. With your order in hand, Ellen walked to the kitchen to drop off your order. You rushed to sample the beverage, too rushed as it would turn out.

‘Ouch! Damn!’ Bringing your fingertips to your mouth, you chided yourself for being too quick on the draw.

‘Are you okay?’ John questioned, his husky voice soothing your wounds as if by magic.

Sneaking a glance towards the man, he took your breath away with how handsome he was. Closely cropped chestnut hair, soulful dark eyes, and a sharp jaw. It was the trifecta of doom in your eyes, but you were willing to throw caution to the wind.

‘I’m okay. I just couldn’t wait to get my fix of caffeine, I guess.’ You tried to joke, but your tongue burned in protest, causing you to wince.

John noticed your obvious discomfort, so he stood up and leaned over the bar, searching for something. A couple beats later, he grabbed his spoon and retrieved a couple pieces of ice from the well and he brought them over to you. Grateful for the help, you plucked an ice cube from the spoon and gently laid it on your tongue, relief immediately sweeping through your mouth. You closed your eyes and focused on the cool sensation. It was exactly what you needed. Opening your eyes, the sight of the man next to you took your breath away.

Again.

‘Better?’ He asked.

The ice was still melting and in lieu of becoming a drooling mess, you simply gave an enthusiastic nod of appreciation. His throaty chuckle came as a surprise and you couldn’t help but take note of the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed. It was a genuine gesture, very sweet. The two of you were having a moment and that didn’t escape your notice, either.

You weren’t normally quick to be so drawn to strangers, your mind often playing back events of your time spent in the trenches of war. You may not have been fighting on the frontline, but you were never very far from it. Upon your arrival back to Fort Bragg though, you promised yourself that you would begin to really start living your life, and that included befriending new people.

Realizing the ice had finished melting, you began to open your mouth to continue to conversation with John, but that was the moment that Ellen dropped off your food. The delicious variety of aromas assaulted your senses and your stomach growled in response.

‘I guess I made it just in time, huh?’ She tittered, taking in the close proximity between you and John. The playful glimmer from before had returned once again, but you still couldn’t make out its meaning. ‘Do you need anything else?’

‘No, thank you though. I’m okay.’ You picked up your toast and began to break the yolks open, letting in bleed into the whites of the egg.

‘I suspect you’ll be in good hands if you change your mind. John here will take care of you.’ She shot John a knowing glance as you began eating your breakfast. ‘I’ll just leave you two be, then.’

You tried to sneak another glance at the pleasant man, who was now sitting next to you, but you were surprised to find he was already a step ahead of you, trying to steal a glance at you instead. You both smiled nervously, but turned back to your respective plates and finished eating in silence. John sat up first and grabbed his denim jacket off the counter. He pulled out his wallet and left a couple bills on the counter, then waved goodbye to Ellen. You weren’t really sure why, but you felt sad that he was leaving.

He turned towards you next, extending his hand. ‘I’m John, by the way. John Winchester.’

You took his hand in your and noticed how calloused the skin was. This man didn’t shy away from a hard day’s work, something you admired. Smiling graciously, you responded, ‘thank you, John, for the ice earlier. I appreciate it.’

‘Just trying to help is all. I hope to see you around…’ He paused. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.’

‘That’s because I didn’t throw it. You can just call me K, though.’ Your smile morphed into a lively smirk.

‘I hope to see you around then, K.’ You nodded at him as he made his way out the door, chuckling to himself.

‘Well, I see the two of you played nice together.’ Ellen’s voice brought your attention back inside the diner as you lost track of John.

‘Yes, you could say that. Is he… is John, from around here?’

‘Oh yeah. I’ve known him almost his whole life. He and his mom moved her when John was real young. He’s a good man, John.’ Her affection for him was genuine, and that only fueled your curiosity more for the man who was currently occupying your thoughts. ‘John, you know, comes in for breakfast daily before he heads off to work at the shop.’

You glanced up at the woman, and you were finally able to recognize the glimmer in her chocolate eyes. You grinned, proud of the both of you; Ellen for her subtlety and yourself for finally identifying the idea she was hinting at. ‘Oh? Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow, then. I do love a good breakfast.’

Ellen barked a raspy laugh at your feigned naivety. She slid the check to you and went back to the other customers. You finished your coffee and put some money on top of the bill. Purse in hand, you left the diner and walked the length of Main Street. You passed another diner, a couple clothing shops, a drug store, and at the end of the road, a small record shop tucked away. You were drawn in like a magnet, a total sucker for good music. You flipped through records of Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan, Stealers Wheel, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Finally you settled on _The Dark Side of the Moon_ by Pink Floyd and paid for your purchase. Returning to your motel room, you played your new record and spent the rest of the evening with thoughts of John Winchester doing the hustle in your head.

The next morning you found yourself back at Henry’s, back at the bar, and back sitting next to John. However, you were only one stool apart this time, which was handy, considering that John was able to somehow slice his palm. You calmly let Ellen know what happened and to grab you a clean towel. You took a couple clean napkins and pressed them into his palm, squeezing your own hands around his. Ellen dropped off the towel in front of you as you carefully peeled back the napkins.

‘How do you know what you’re doing?’ John asked.

‘I was a nurse over in Vietnam. I’m trained to handle this kind of thing.’ You spoke softly while assessing the wound. ‘I was over there for about eleven months. I saw a lot of things happen. So, for me, a cut palm is relatively low stress.’ Wrapping the towel tightly over his palm, you continued with your diagnosis. ‘The incision isn’t too deep, so you lucked out there. You won’t need to get stitches.’

‘Thank you, K.’ He reached over with his free hand and placed it on top of yours, dwarfing it.

Your heart was beating so hard against your chest, it wasn’t fair that your ribs were acting like a literal cage.

‘You know, I spent some time overseas as well. I served in the Echo 2/1. That’s the-’

‘Second Battalion, First Marines. I know.’ You finished, stopping him short. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off.’

‘No, no. That’s plenty alright. I like a girl who knows her stuff.’ His smile was as warm as the sun and you could feel the heat radiating throughout your entire body. ‘I spent about three months in Da Nang, but came back to Camp Pendleton afterwards. My time there will be with me for the rest of my days. You’ll never forget the faces of the ghosts of war. I was lucky though, my stretch there was brief. The jungles there, well… they held all sorts of horror that I wasn’t ready for.’

You listened to his every word, recalling your own time spent in said jungles. It was so nice to have someone that understood the trials you had faced, someone to share in the daunting experiences with. The two of you spent the rest of breakfast recalling the events of war from your own accounts. This happened every day for the rest of the week, as it would turn out. You met John for breakfast around 7:00am, bumping up the time to a little earlier for the next day so that both of you could talk a little longer before he made his way to the shop. Nothing seemed to be off the table amongst you. You found out about his father leaving him when he was young, his mother relocating to Lawrence and marrying the local mechanic, the one who owned the shop where John was working at. You told him that you were just passing through town, making your way to Windom, Minnesota, where you had family.

It was Saturday morning before you knew it, before you were ready for it. Ellen had finished clearing your plates and the bills were paid for, but you couldn’t bring yourself to leave.

‘So, I guess this is it, then?’ John’s eyes pleaded with you to stay, but you both knew it was time to go. You had already told your family you would be on your way and John was going to be late for work if he didn’t leave in the next couple minutes.

‘I guess so.’ A sorrowful smile played across your lips.

‘Can I at least walk you to your car?’

‘I’d really love that, John.’ He smiled and squeezed your hand, and in that moment, you knew there was something so special about the man next to you. John Winchester would always have a place in your heart, no matter what life brought to you.

John helped you with your jacket, took your hand, and the two of you walked just up the block to where your VW van was parked. John opened the passenger door so that you could toss your purse inside. You turned around and were met with warm, soft lips crashing down on yours; his strong hands firm on your hips.

The kiss was serene, yet compelling. It was the essence of John, you realized.

He broke away first, resting his forehead against yours. ‘If I ever make it up to Minnesota, you’re the only person I’m calling, K.’

‘It’s Kate, actually.’ You panted out. ‘Kate Milligan.’

‘Well, Kate Milligan, I mean it. You’re the only one I’m calling.’ His hands left your hips and gently cupped your face, tilting it down so that he could plant a soft kiss on your forehead.

You inhaled as much of you could John, then walked around to the driver’s side and got it. John waited on the sidewalk and watched as you pulled into the road. You rolled down the window and waved goodbye to your soldier.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this one! Did you enjoy reading it?? Let me know! Feedback is always appreciated and I'd love for you to come say hi to me on Tumblr at fangirlxfatale!


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